The Blind Side
She's been Miss Congeniality, one of Hollywood's best-liked stars, since her 1994 breakthrough with Speed. But Bullock, 45, never won official acclaim until she played Leigh Anne Tuohy the Memphis, Tenn., matron who turned a lost black teen into a football star in the true-life smash The Blind Side. During the shoot, she recalls, "something clicked, that divine moment when preparation meets with letting go and you find yourself comfortable in another person's skin." Now Bullock has to get used to being a Best Actress nominee. "After two decades in Hollywood," she says, "I am just thankful that I was allowed to work for two decades. I love what I have been lucky enough to do."